Why Helen Flanagan went on Celebs Go Dating despite having a boyfriend

Watch Helen Flanagan explain why she went on Celebs Go Dating despite having a boyfriend

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Helen Flanagan has explained why she signed up to Celebs Go Dating despite being in love with her new boyfriend.

The ex Coronation Street star annoyed the E4 dating show's experts when she made the shock announcement that she was actually secretly dating someone - and things had got very serious between them, despite her dating other people on the programme.

Flanagan told Lorraine about dating as a single mum and how things are going now with new boyfriend Robbie Talbot.

What, how, and why?

Helen Flanagan left Celebs Go Dating's stars open-mouthed recently when mid-series she admitted to secretly having a boyfriend, who she was in love with.

Flanagan had been dating other people on the E4 show and had cried to the relationship experts about recovering from her split from Scott Sinclair and her relationship with David Haye.

So they were left unimpressed by the former Corrie star's bombshell, although she was later allowed to bring in new love Robbie Talbot and get some advice on navigating their relationship.

Speaking to Lorraine on Monday, Flanagan explained: "So what happened is when I signed for the show it was the beginning of the year, we were dating and it progressed.

"I wear my heart on my sleeve, I just wanted to come clean. I wanted to be true to myself. I'm a big fan of Celebs Go Dating and I wanted to get the most out of the show from the therapy side as well, I just wanted to be honest.

"I applied for the show right at the beginning of the year, we were just dating and then everything got really intense."

Asked how she felt about the experts' reaction to her announcement, she said: "I can understand it, I don't take anything too badly."

Talbot, a construction company boss who is not involved in the celebrity world, looked a little uncomfortable when he appeared on the dating show and Flanagan said it had meant a lot to her that he had agreed to do it. "It's so funny, it's not his thing at all, he's a really blokey bloke," she said. "He's not into reality TV."

Explaining more about why she had wanted to do the show, Flanagan, who shares three young children with her ex Scott Sinclair, said: "I remember watching Celebs Go Dating as a single mum last year. I've got three young children, you think am I going to find that again, am I going to find someone who's really going to love me, who's really going to love my children. I thought it was further down the line for me, so it's actually really nice for other single mums to bring on such a lovely healthy relationship, for them to be like she's got that, maybe, you know."

What did Helen Flanagan say about her split from Scott Sinclair?

Flanagan was open with the experts about how tough she had found the split from her ex-fiance, footballer Sinclair who she was in a relationship with for 13 years.

Lorraine Kelly asked her what it was like co-parenting and seeing Sinclair with a new partner, and she admitted: "It's not easy, I found it very, very difficult.

"Co-parenting is a journey in itself. I'm not young but I'm 34, I've got three children, I feel like maybe if I was 10 years older. At this age you're still learning about yourself, you're still finding yourself. And then the end of my relatonship with Scott, it was like a divorce, we were engaged, we had three children, a house, and I think if you're 10 years older maybe you can deal with it a little bit better."

But she added: "I'm really, really good, in a really good place. (The experts) talked to me about a thing I didn't know about myself which was being co-dependent. It was a really good experience, it was really good for my confidence as well."

What did Helen Flanagan say about a Coronation Street return?

The star's most famous role is still as Rosie Webster in Coronation Street, a part she played from 2000 when she was nine years old and eventually left in 2018.

Flanagan said she was still close to Sally Dynevor who played her screen mum Sally, and admitted she would love to play Rosie again one day.

She said: "I'd love to go back to Coronation Street. I like to do work in Manchester near home because (her children's) daddy lives away so it's great for me to work in Manchester and be with the kids.

"I want Rosie to come back with loads of kids and cause chaos and fob them off with Sally and go wild."

Lorraine airs on ITV1 at 9am on weekdays.

Read more: Helen Flanagan

• Helen Flanagan finally confirms romance with former footballer during Celebs Go Dating (Manchester Evening News, 2 min read)

• Helen Flanagan's boyfriend delivers brutal insult as he's seen for first time after her split from Scott Sinclair (OK!, 3 min read)

• Helen Flanagan under fire for huge Celebs Go Dating bombshell as fans say she 'wasted time' (Daily Record, 3 min read)